Sports

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Some players at the Australian Open claim they do not want to know which opponents could stand between them and a championship. And so they say they try to avoid looking at the bracket at the Grand Slam tournament that began this week at Melbourne

By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Travis Pastrana will attempt to race the Daytona 500 this year and add to his long list of motor sports accomplishments. The extreme racer will enter the Daytona 500 with 23XI Racing. He will have to qualify to make NASCAR’s season-opening race. There are

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Coco Gauff and Emma Raducanu will go head-to-head in the second round of the Australian Open. The seventh-seeded Gauff is the 18-year-old American who reached the final of the French Open last year. She also won the title in Auckland earlier this month. Raducanu has been battling a left ankle injury.

LONDON (AP) — Formula One has confirmed that it will not replace the canceled Chinese Grand Prix. The decision leaves the 2023 season at 23 races. That is still a record for an F1 season. The race in Shanghai was canceled for the fourth straight year in December. China had some of the toughest pandemic-related

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — Former Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt is one of three candidates nominated to become the next head of the country’s soccer federation. Reinfeldt was prime minister from 2006-14 and has no previous links to soccer. The other candidates for the role are Hélène Barnekow and Lars-Christer Olsson. Barnekow has had high-profile

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Novak Djokovic has returned to the Australian Open with a straight-set victory in the first round over Roberto Carballes Baena. Djokovic did not play at Melbourne Park in 2022 because his visa was revoked and he was deported from the country for not having been

By TALES AZZONI AP Sports Writer MADRID (AP) — Spanish referees want VAR to be boosted by semi-automated offside technology after a video-review mistake in a league match between Cádiz and Elche. The referee’s technical committee made a request to the Spanish league on Tuesday in a statement released by the Spanish soccer federation. The

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato will drive for Chip Ganassi Racing this season as the Japanese driver winds down his career to an oval-only schedule. Sato will share the No. 11 Honda with rookie Marcus Armstrong. Armstrong was hired to drive the IndyCar street and road course races. There are five

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — More than 1,800 stadium bans were imposed in Belgium during the 2021-22 soccer season along with larger fines as authorities try to crack down on fan violence. Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden said Tuesday that the sanctions sent a clear message that “bad behavior has no place” in

ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Italian cyclist Alberto Bettiol took advantage of an early start and dry course to win the 5.5-kilometer time trial prologue at the Tour Down Under. Bettiol was the fourth of 139 riders to start the stage over a twisting course along the Torrens River in downtown Adelaide. He set a time

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Metal hip, bloody knee and all, Andy Murray produced his biggest victory in years. Murray built a huge lead, let it disappear completely, then needed to save a match point against Matteo Berrettini — who is nearly a full decade younger and ranked more than

PARIS (AP) — The Paris prosecutor’s office says French soccer federation president Noël Le Graët is under investigation for sexual harassment and “moral harassment.” The Paris prosecutor’s office says in a message to The Associated Press that the investigation was opened Monday following a report by the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research. The

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Andy Murray has beaten a top-20 opponent at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2017. The three-time major champion blew a big early lead, then needed to save a match point and wound up eliminating 13th-seeded Matteo Berrettini in five sets in